Never Give Up the Fight
by Pantherfan16
Summary: AU. What if Lucy managed to escape the attack on Tenrou Island with the help of her spirits? Follow Lucy's journey as she endeavours to find her guild mates and bring Fairy Tail back.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Fairy Tail, that privilege belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Never Give Up the Fight: Prologue

Lucy felt Natsu's grip tighten on her shaking hand as the brilliant beam of deadly energy flew at them with heart-stopping speed, this was when the world shifted for her, even as she could feel the last of her magic draining away into the defence spell, she was strangely content. The roar of the dragon and the stench of its breath faded to the background. Lucy was happy she hadn't given up, that she was fighting with her guild mates to the very last against their most powerful enemy. She squeezed Natsu's hand back as she felt tears stream down her face and then her world went white.


	2. Chapter One

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Fairy Tail, that privilege belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Chapter One

Lucy shifted a little as she opened her eyes; everything around her was muted and distant as though she was hearing underwater. She heard a faint noise to her right and turned her head and immediately regretted it as her head pounded and everything faded a little. When she opened her eyes again Lucy was looking into concerned gold eyes that morphed in relief, she blinked before realising she was looking at Leo and behind him Lucy could make out all her other spirits.

 _What?_

Lucy sat up with help from Leo and Aries, all her aches and pains from the fight with Grimoire Heart screaming for her attention but she ignored her pain and her spirits as they tried to insist she lay down, Lucy had realised just where she was.

She was in the spirit world and Lucy realised with a stab of panic that her guild mates weren't with her. She swung her legs over the stone bench she had been laying on and stood up and looked around frantically.

'Leo, what happened and where are the others!' Lucy demanded fearfully, tears welling in her eyes.

Leo looked down for a moment uncertain, something Lucy had never seen him do- it made her heart plummet.

Deep down she knew.

'I'm sorry Lucy, we felt the massive build up of energy and so I sent Horologium to help get you out of there, as it is he took a nasty hit and almost didn't make it back with you. That's why you're probably feeling a little battered.' Leo explained with a heavy voice.

'But Natsu! The others!' Lucy cried tearfully. 'They were _right_ there, they were right beside me!"

Virgo stepped forward, her face solemn, 'I'm sorry Princess, but Horologium only had time to grab you and it was a near thing.'

 _This can't be happening_ , Lucy thought hysterically.

'We have to go back.' Lucy exclaimed, 'They could be hurt and need help! I can't just leave them there.' Lucy sobbed as she sank to the ground in despair.

Leo knelt down next to Lucy as she wiped her eyes, 'We tried to go back as soon as you were safe, Capricorn and I couldn't find the last location we were in. We couldn't even pick up where horologium had been. The magic levels were too high.'

'Lady Lucy', Sagittarius spoke up, 'it appears as though Tenrou Island was wiped out by the dragon's blast.'

All the while her spirits had been speaking Lucy had been shaking her head unable to believe what she was hearing.

'But I was _right_ there. Natsu was right next to me and Gray, Juvia, Erza all of them were _right_ there. You must be mistaken; the blast might have just confused you!' Lucy said her voice taking on a hysterical tone. 'Please we have to check again.'

'Old Friend,' a solemn voice interrupted her.

Lucy glanced up and behind her and stood as she saw the spirit King approaching. 'Over three days have passed since you were in the human world; you have been with us for over an hour now. Your remaining guild members and other wizards have been scouring the seas looking for your friends and Tenrou Island, but I am afraid to no avail.'

N-no!' Lucy wailed in anguish as tears poured down her pale face, her spirits could hear her muttering the names of her guild mates; 'Natsu, Gray, Erza, Mira. Levi. You can't be gone, not like this! It can't be.'

Lucy looked up at all the spirits surrounding her 'I refuse to believe it, they aren't dead!' Lucy's voice cracked and she stifled another sob as her spirits shared a helpless look.

Lucy felt a pair of hands clasp her shoulders in comfort and expected to see Leo when she looked up, instead she saw Aquarius' solemn face.

'I'm sorry Brat' was enough to break Lucy and she felt her world shatter, Lucy fell bonelessly into Aquarius' grip as her eyes dulled and lost their spark.

Her friends were gone.

Fairy Tail was never going to be the same again.

Aquarius looked over at Leo and Virgo and they nodded solemnly. They would be the ones to bring Lucy back to Fairy Tail, she was in no condition to go back on her own as all Lyra's attempts to rouse Lucy from her state were failing.

Aquarius passed a non-responsive Lucy over to Leo and Virgo, while the other spirits looked on, heartbroken for their wizard. With a wave of the Spirit King's hand the trio were gone, leaving a heavy silence in their wake.

'Farewell and good luck, old friend.'

***FT***

Laki was absently sweeping the already clean guildhall floors, trying to keep her mind off of her missing comrades by keeping herself busy. A couple of meters away Reedus, Macao, Bisca and Alzack were leaning over one of the tables looking at the search map trying to pick which area to search next. Laki tuned out their hushed conversation and glanced out the window. The late evening sun was streaming into the hall that should have been filled with her loud guild mates who be supposed to have been fighting or drinking to the success of the S-Class trials. Instead everyone was trying to hold onto the hope they were still alive.

Laki was about to stop sweeping and look for something else to do when she heard a noise outside the front doors, the abrupt silence behind her told Laki the others had noticed it as well. There was a faint flash of light before the guild doors started to slowly creak open. Laki held her breath, waiting to see what was on the other side. Three figures were silhouetted against the last of the evenings rays and Laki realised with a start that it was Loki, Lucy and another female. Cries of joy rung out behind her but Laki didn't join in.

Something was wrong.

Laki then realised the Lucy appeared to be supported by Loki and the other person Laki guessed to be one of Lucy's spirits. Dropping the broom she hurriedly rushed to help Loki and the other spirit with their charge, shouting to Reedus to go get help.

Loki gave her a grateful look as she slipped under Lucy's other arm, the spirit in the maid outfit disappearing with a small smile and one last look at Lucy.

Lucy.

Laki glanced down at her friend and realised with a sinking feeling the Lucy was just staring ahead with empty eyes, mumbling something under her breath sounding very distressed. Loki stumbled forward a couple more steps before Alzack was there, resting his arm on Loki's who gave him an indiscernible look before relinquishing his master to Alzack. Together Laki and Alzack guided Lucy to the closest bench, taking nearly all of her weight as their comrade appeared too incoherent to even walk on her own. Laki realised that Lucy's clothes were torn in multiple places and that she appeared to be having trouble breathing, her words coming out breathlessly.

'Lucy, can you hear me?'

Laki turned and noticed all the others still in guild were behind her. Macao had asked the question, a concerned frown on his troubled face, Romeo nervously dancing on his feet beside him.

'It's no use.' Loki's exhausted voice cut in.

He was standing next to Alzack, his back straight despite his obvious exhaustion, clear in the tightness in his eyes and his dishevelled clothes.

'We couldn't get a response from Lucy once we told her what happened', Loki continued grimly, glancing briefly away from Lucy.

Macao stepped forward his frown deepening. "And what _did_ happen, Lucy and the others have been missing for three days. Where have you been and what happened to the others and Tenrou Island?'

Loki took a deep breath, about to explain, when running footsteps interrupted him and he was absolutely shocked to see a perfectly healthy Wendy running into the room with Reedus on her heels and Charle flying behind her.

'Wendy! _'_ Loki exclaimed, shocked to see the small dragon slayer. 'How are you here?'

Wendy spared him a brief glance before stopping in front of the now silent Lucy, who had slumped against Laki, clearly exhausted but still with that horrible empty look in her glassy eyes. Loki swore he saw a brief spark in her eyes when Wendy entered her line of sight but he could have been mistaken.

Wendy gently called Lucy's name but got no response so her hands started to glow a soft blue light that she ran over Lucy's body looking for any injuries. Wendy's face frowned in concern and Loki felt a stab of guilt, should they have brought her back sooner instead of waiting for her to wake up in the spirit world?

'Laki, do you mind laying her down on the bench?' Wendy asked softly. 'She has internal injuries that I need to heal'. Loki heard the others murmur in concern and he remembered watching helplessly in the spirit world as Lucy had been badly beaten by Cain from Grimoire Heart.

Wendy was panting slightly as she concentrated on her healing magics and Loki noticed Lucy's cuts and scrapes were all closing up and her colour was slowly returning to normal too.

'Don't push yourself Wendy.' Charle spoke up sternly from her position on top of the table.

Wendy nodded slowly and the blue glow faded as she slumped a little in exhaustion. Loki glanced at Lucy's face and panicked a little at the sight of her now slack features. Wendy, still kneeling next the bench noticed the concern for Lucy and quickly reassured them all.

'I put Lucy into an enchanted sleep, she was in deep shock and her injuries included broken ribs, internal bleeding, small tears in her stomach and some of her ligaments and tendons were badly strained as well.' Wendy said softly, before looking questioningly at Loki.

Loki grimaced knowing they'd all want an explanation, 'Lucy got into a fight with Cain from Grimoire Heart and he beat her pretty soundly and used some sort of Voodoo magic that controlled her body." Loki said. 'As for how we're here, Horologium managed to pull Lucy to the safety of the Celestial World. He didn't have time to grab anyone else though.' Loki explained grimly, the silence in the hall deafening.

Wendy swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded tiredly, 'that would explain the strained muscles and tendons.' Wendy stood and leant against the head of the table. 'The best thing for Lucy right now is rest. I'll bring her out of the enchanted sleep sometime tomorrow.'

 **A/N: Sorry it's been so long. I have just edited this chapter, hope you like it, if so please review! I am still working on the story and have quite a few chapters written (just not the early chapters) Please let me know what you think so far, the chapters should be getting longer soon! Pantherfan16**


	3. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Fairy Tail, that privilege belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Chapter Two

Lucy stared listlessly out the guild hall window, the rain falling heavily outside creating small tracks of water down the window that Lucy was absently staring through. Her eyes were hollow, her face pale and she had bags under her eyes; the girl staring back at her from her reflection was almost unrecognisable. It had been three days since she had been at the guild. Three days of recovering and waiting for news of their friends from her fellow guild mates. Lucy shifted slightly in her chair, bringing her knees up to her chest. She felt lost. Every time someone walked into the infirmary where she was resting most days, she turned and expected to see Natsu walk through the door, or Gray or Erza coming to see how she was. Lucy felt tears fall from her eyes, surprised; she didn't think she had anymore tears to cry. Wendy had been to see her every morning and after lunch to see how she was doing, Lucy thought Wendy was even more drawn than she felt, her eyes looked dead. Unless you mentioned Mest, then her eyes would be filled with an anger Lucy hadn't seen in the young dragon slayer before.

Lucy could still remember the shock on Wendy's face as she and Charle were grabbed from behind by Mest and teleported off Tenrou, just moments before they all stood together in their circle. Lucy had felt a huge sense of relief when she realised one of her friends would at least survive and Wendy was the youngest of them. Even though Lucy was grateful to Mest she knew Wendy saw his act as a betrayal- that Wendy wished she had been there with them for Achnologia's last attack, she thought it was her duty as a Dragon Slayer.

Lucy hadn't summoned her spirits in the last three days, she was thankful to them for saving her but at the same time she was angry at how they had stopped her from helping her friends in their time of need. She felt as if she should have been standing by them until the very end, facing Achnologia as a team instead of being ripped away to safety at the last moment. Lucy also felt incredibly guilty as well, it was eating her up on the inside, why had she survived when all of her friends had died? Lucy smothered a sob as her thoughts brought her back to the fact that none of the ships searching around Tenrou had found any sign of other survivors. The magic council had called on the lacrima this morning to give the guild their preliminary findings, the council experts had concluded that the levels of ethernano recorded gave a high probability that the island has been wiped out completely.

The whole guild had been in a state of shock since the call ended a couple of hours ago, Lucy had broken down at the news while some of the others had refused to believe it, but they hadn't been there. They hadn't felt the power of Achnologia's attacks even when he had only toyed with them. Lucy would never forget when they had all stood in a circle together as the immensely powerful attack from Achnologia was about to hit. The sheer power behind the attack had made Lucy's bones ache and her instincts had screamed at her to run, though she had held her ground beside Natsu and Gray, never giving up the fight.

Lucy jumped violently as the doors to the guild slammed open and young Romeo came bursting into the room red faced and shouting to someone over his shoulder. Lucy looked at the doors and sure enough, a dripping wet Macao slowly entered the guild looking pale, his eyes suspiciously red. Obviously Macao had just broken the news to the five year old, Lucy's heart broke a little more for the young boy, he had idolized most of the guild members that had gone to Tenrou, Natsu in particular and she knew he would be as devastated as they all were.

Wendy walked up to Romeo and started talking softly to the upset child, Wakaba having intercepted Macao with a glass of beer. Lucy turned back to the window and let the tears fall. Nothing would be the same again.

The following week, two weeks since the attack, Lucy had finally summoned up the courage to join one of the search ships looking for Tenrou Island. Lucy told herself that it was because Macao had asked her to take Wendy with her- he had explained they both would need closure and they might be able to pick up something that was different. Lucy had agreed reluctantly, not really wanting to revisit the most traumatic place she had been to, it was all way too fresh in her mind.

Fairy Tail had held a memorial ceremony two days ago and Lucy still felt emotionally drained, a stone-make mage from Mermaid Heel had created a beautiful stone memorial to the lost wizards of Fairy Tail, but seeing the faces of all her dearest friends immortalised in stone had been too much for Lucy in her fragile state, she had collapsed in tears and Loke had helped her back to the guild, neither had commented on their shared tears.

Lucy mentally shook herself from her thoughts and took a deep breath of the fresh sea air, glancing to her right at Wendy and Charle, who were leaning over the edge of the boat looking at the dolphins that had decided to join them. Lucy's lips twitched, the closest she had come to a smile since that day, as she looked at the excited face of the young sky dragon slayer, it was the most animated she had been in the last two weeks, Charle's normally stern expression softened with a smile.

Lucy turned and lent her back against the side of the ship and her let eyes roamed over the other wizards that had joined them today. This ship was a mix of guilds with Leon and Sherry from Lamia Scale having joined the ship at the last minute, Lucy spotted Hibiki with the other Trimen and Ichiya off to the rear of the ship. Fairy Tail had the largest group with Bisca, Alzack and Wakaba as well as herself, Wendy and Charle.

According to Ichiya this ship was searching outside the normal grid pattern the other ships were following as today they were returning back to the coordinates that Tenrou Island had been at. Lucy shuddered a little as they made their final approach; her magic was tingling under her skin, the hair on the back of her neck rising in unease. She could feel something was different, the air seemed to still and Lucy saw her keys flash before Leo appeared before her looking concerned.

'Do you feel that Lucy?' Leo asked her, ignoring the looks he got from the others on the boat.

Lucy frowned thoughtfully.

'My magic seems to react to this place, but I don't know why' Lucy said, her voice shaking a little, she could now feel her magic draining from her, it was so slight she could barely feel it, but it was there.

Leo's brow furrowed. 'Do you mind calling Aquarius out?' he asked solemnly, 'something doesn't feel right, we could all feel it in the celestial world and that indicates something otherworldly or extremely powerful' Leo explained seriously.

'Lucy?' Wendy asked softly from behind her. 'Is something wrong?'

Lucy glanced around her and noticed that everyone had stopped to look at her and Leo.

'Not sure at the moment, something just feels a little off' Lucy explained to Wendy, leaving out the part about her magic draining a little. No need to make everyone think she was crazy. Pulling out Aquarius' key Lucy looked around for a more accessible source of water, spying a barrel of fresh water on the other side of the ship Lucy summoned Aquarius, ignoring the questions aimed at her and Leo.

Aquarius appeared with her usual look of disdain, and Lucy went to open her mouth to speak to her but she was cut off by a glare from her spirit before Aquarius dived into the water, seemingly the source of the disturbance if Leo's suggestion of summoning her was anything to go by.

A tense minute passed in silence as all the wizards on the boat waited for Aquarius to appear again. There was a muted flash of light from deep under the surface and a shock wave rippled through the water in the blink of an eye.

'Aquarius!' Lucy shouted in terror, leaning dangerously over the edge of the boat, afraid for her spirit.

'Shut it brat.' A bored voice announced from behind her.

Lucy whirled around to see Aquarius floating behind the ship looking untouched. She let out the breath she had been holding with a quiet sigh of relief.

'What happened down there?' Lucy asked, 'Did you find something?'

Aquarius nodded 'Tenrou Island still exists.' She said, dropping the bombshell on them with a calm voice.

Lucy choked, her eyes filling with moisture, 'Aquarius… are you sure?' she cringed inwardly at how desperate her voice sounded. There were gasps of shock from everyone on board as they reacted to the news.

Aquarius nodded again. 'It appears as if a massive shielding spell was used, but when I went to touch it it released some sort of defensive burst.' Aquarius explained. 'I've never seen a spell like it before and for the brief moment when I touched it I felt as if time was distorted or different. Very similar to when I cross over from the spirit world to this one, where there is a massive difference in the flow of time.' Aquarius continued, glancing to Loke. They both knew it was very fortunate they had sensed this, if Lucy hadn't been on the ship Aquarius doubted anyone else would have picked up the disturbance.

'We have to see for ourselves!' Bisca exclaimed excitedly. 'Our friends are stuck down there so we need to help them!'

The rest of the boat started cheering and talking animatedly, but Lucy and Wendy were looking at Aquarius, her face still too solemn.

'Aquarius, what exactly could you see down there?' Lucy asked hesitantly. 'Did you see how they were?'

Everyone stopped talking to hear the celestial spirits response.

Aquarius rolled her eyes at her master's emotional response before replying, 'All I could see was a golden sphere under the water. I tried to touch it and it pushed me back. It was too opaque to see anything, only the size of the sphere and our location told me it was Tenrou Island.'

Lucy let her tears of relief fall as she realised all their efforts had paid off in the end, they had somehow managed to create a shield strong enough to block Achnologia.

'So we know where they are, we just can't tell if they're still alive' Leon said solemnly, breaking the silence.

Lucy felt as though she had been punched in the gut and she could feel the blood draining from her face, they had to be alive, otherwise why would the shield still be active? Lucy jolted in realisation, closing her eyes she reached for her magic, sure enough it was still draining from her core. Perhaps it was noticeable now that she was in closer proximity to the apparent cause? Lucy had been feeling tired the last week and a half, but she had attributed it to her injuries and emotional state, now there seemed to be a valid reason for it. Even though she was outside the shield could she still be powering it, she had poured all her available magic into the circle with her friends, so it was plausible. Glancing to Leo and Aquarius they both nodded grimly, she was being drained of her magic to help the spell.

A hand clasping her shoulder startled Lucy out of her thoughts; Wendy was peering at her in concern.

'Are you alright Lucy?' Wendy asked biting her lip anxiously.

Lucy swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded in reply, not trusting her voice right now.

Five minutes later the Fairy Tail members and Hibiki were travelling deep under water in a large bubble thanks to Aquarius's magic, allowing the group to investigate the shield for themselves. Lucy gasped as the murky water slowly revealed a massive golden dome, it easily covered the size of the island and Lucy felt the pull on her magic even stronger, the closer they got. Aquarius stopped the bubble within reaching distance and a flash of magic brought her attention to Hibiki, his archive magic was scanning the shield and recording all the relevant data it could get.

'It'll take a few minutes for this scan to run,' Hibiki explained, his fingers flying over the magic keys as graphs and tables popped in and out of sight. Lucy nodded and turned back to the shield desperately searching for her friends or a way past the shield, Wendy and the others were calling their friends names.

Reaching out with her right hand Lucy brought it up to the surface of the shield, all the hairs on her arm standing on end as the magical energy surged, Lucy felt a mild electric shock as her hand made contact with the shield and it flashed brilliantly for a fraction of a second and another shock wave rippled through the water, whipping Lucy's hair around her face as it passed harmlessly through the bubble. Even though it had happened so fast Lucy had managed to catch the Fairy Tail symbol that flashed on the shield and her own symbol felt warm for a heartbeat and the draining of her energy seemed to ebb. Glancing around at the others she seemed to be the only one affected, even Wendy hadn't noticed anything with her mark apparently.

Hibiki spent the next few minutes collating his data before Aquarius sent them flying towards the ship on a massive column of water, dumping them unceremoniously on the deck of the ship, soaking wet. Lucy squashed her normal crass response with some difficulty and thanked Wendy as she used her air magic to dry them off.

Hibiki told everyone that he would need a few days to go over the data before he would contact Fairy Tail so the ship headed back to Hargeon, everyone talking excitedly about finally finding the missing group, knowing the search could be called off and the research on freeing the Tenrou Island Team could begin.

 **A/N: Hope this chapter explains things a little more, I am currently writing the next chapter but it may take a few weeks. Please review and let me know what you think! Pantherfan16**


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